Bigger salaries, important titles lure away talent

AUTHOR(S)

Petrecca, Laura; Cuneo, Alice Z.; Chura, Hillary; Taras, Susen

PUB. DATE

December 1999

SOURCE

Advertising Age;12/6/1999, Vol. 70 Issue 50, ps6

SOURCE TYPE

Trade Publication

DOC. TYPE

Article

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the efforts of advertising agencies to gain and retain executives as of December 1999. According to Steve Gundersen, president and CEO of global executive search company Gundersen Partners, erosion of employee loyalty to a single company is driving up compensation and agency turnover. And it is not just wages that executives are trading up on. Earlier in 1999, a young assistant account coordinator negotiated her way into an account executive position at a Los Angeles, California agency. In the past, such titles were reserved for candidates who have years of experience and know the inner workings of an agency. Gundersen Partners, specializing in placing executives at marketing and communications companies, has experienced a dramatic increase in its business in 1998. Gundersen credits the Internet with fueling growth for much of his company and the industry.